Chapter Text
Kronii sighs as she takes another piece of the bread slowly. She tried to savor it, to enjoy what little food she could afford with her money, or rather, what was left of it…
She digs a hand into her pocket. Two pennies left. She could probably make it into the next day if she was careful and managed to complete a few more jobs, but for someone who was at the bottom of the food chain, it’s considerably harder to survive, let alone climb the ladder.
Well, the rich get richer, so what are the poor left to do?
Kronii sighs, taking another small piece of the bread and letting it soften in her mouth for a bit. If she ate slowly, it would last longer, and if it could last longer, she wouldn’t need to eat for another while.
What a pain.
Small footsteps approach her, and Kronii tries to brighten up at the familiar face. It’s in vain though, the wear on her clothes evident, bags under her eyes, and dirt on her skin are all too evident. Yet, the child doesn’t seem to care as she rams into Kronii’s legs.
“Kronii!” The little girl greets, rubbing her face on Kronii’s pant leg half out of affection and half to get dirt out of her face. Kronii pretends to not notice as she reaches down to ruffle blonde hair.
“Hey, Ame. What’s up?”
“Um, well,” Light blue eyes can’t stop staring at the piece of bread in Kronii’s hands as she fidgets with her own. “I gots told to tell youse that there was a job available fo’ youse. I’m not allowed to do it tho’, ‘cause I ain’t strong like you.”
Kronii smirks at the girl, lowering her hand to give the rest of the loaf to her. She’s satisfied enough, she decides, with the bright smile on Amelia’s face. It was like she was just presented with an entire feast, and for a loaf of bread this big in her hands, it kind of was.
They weren’t related by blood, but they didn’t need to be. Amelia didn’t deserve to live like this. Neither of them did. That’s just the way it was for them, so the least Kronii could do is care for the girl, and maybe also survive on the side.
“So,” Kronii starts as she stands up, starting to stretch. “About that job?”
Kronii yawns as she waits by the dock with the other workers. Very few seemed to have taken the opportunity, all too famished to have muscles or too tired from working into the night to be able to stay or wake up for the ship that would arrive at sunrise.
The sun just barely peaked over the ocean, and in the distance, a ship approaches.
Kronii starts stretching, bones aching from lying on the cold floor. Any extra clothes she had, she’d give to Amelia for comfort. The girl had already gotten a cold before, and Kronii refused to risk it again.
Even if it meant that Kronii would be cold, tired, and hungry. Those kinds of stuff didn’t matter as long as she could take care of other people.
The ship horn sounds off in the distance as it approaches even more. The sight of such an extravagant boat never failed to amaze Kronii, who felt nervous just to think of standing near that thing, let alone walking on it to help retrieve luggage.
For this job, she was nothing but a simple porter, only meant as muscle to help carry bags on and off the ship. Rich people could afford anything, she supposes, but not insults, because at the very least she was getting money out of it. She can’t bite the hand that feeds her or the people like her.
As the ship approaches, the workers, including Kronii, begin to stand in a line. The passengers would be allowed to choose one of them to handle their personal belongings, and any leftovers would handle the rest of the shipments. Kronii couldn’t tell which was better, since all of the employers were very picky, and it was already easy to step on something so low.
Even someone as lowly as her.
Kronii gulps as the ship finally stops near the dock, the sound of its horn almost deafening to her. Her calloused hands are already starting to ache, but she holds strong as the passengers begin to descend from the placed stairs.
Looking forward trying to pretend like she wasn’t tired fails her, her eyes instead landing on the prettiest woman she’d ever seen. Green hairs, sparkling eyes, and clean clothes that seemed to glitter in the sunshine.
Gosh, she was gorgeous.
Perhaps, she was staring too much, she realizes, as the woman suddenly turns to her with a curious smile. With a gloved hand, she points towards the line of porters, inaudibly mentioning something to the ship captain who gestures to them with a bow towards the woman.
Kronii gulps again as the woman starts walking towards them, walking down the line to inspect all of the porters, getting ready to choose one.
She stops in front of Kronii.
“A woman?” The most beautiful voice speaks, and Kronii feels her knees go weak for a second.
“Yes, ma’am.” Kronii nods, doing her best to remember her manners.
Fauna looks around at the surrounding porters. Only men surrounded them, as usually women were not considered strong enough for the jobs. “I thought women weren’t allowed to be porters?” An amused smile.
Kronii smirks. “I guess I’m not like the other girls.”
A twinkle in golden eyes has Kronii forgetting the cold ever existed. Fauna looks back to the captain, pointing at Kronii.
“This one, please.”
The luggage isn’t that heavy. It’s nothing but four bags, two that Kronii carries in each arm, one on her back, and one carried by the woman who chose her. Kronii keeps offering to take it back, worried she’d get in trouble, but the woman declines.
“Ma’am.” Kronii starts, but flinches as Fauna turns around, pausing her task of making sure she got everything from her guest room on the boat.
“Fauna.”
“P-Pardon?”
“Call me Fauna.” She smiles.
Kronii falters, and suddenly the bags feel both heavy and light at the same time. “I can’t do that.”
Fauna clicks her tongue. “Shame. I would’ve liked to hear it from you.”
Heavy. They’re heavy. The bags are so heavy, and Kronii almost falls over.
“Anyways,” Fauna says back in her light voice. “Go on with what you were saying.”
Kronii bites her tongue. “Nevermind. Apologies, it would’ve been rude.”
Fauna giggles, and starts to approach Kronii, holding her own suitcase in front of her. “If I ordered you to say it, would you?”
Kronii gulps. “I wouldn’t have a choice, ma’am.”
“Why not?” Fauna frowns. “Tell me the truth with details.”
The worker looks off to the side, visibly nervous yet seceding. “You chose me, so I’m meant to follow your orders. If I don’t, then you have to tell my supervisor, and I won’t get paid.”
The woman blinks. “I thought you got paid either way?”
“No…” Kronii looks down. “When we carry personal belongings, we only get paid if the owner decides we did fine.”
“Does… does that mean sometimes you don’t get paid? Even after all your work?”
Kronii doesn’t respond, biting back her words. Her stomach feels a little more empty.
“Porter, what’s your name?”
“Kronii…” She mumbles.
“Do you have a full name, Kronii?”
Her arms feel a little more tired.
“Kronii?”
“Can’t afford it… Letters are expensive.”
The bags under her eyes sag just a little bit more.
“How much will you get paid from this job?”
Her body feels a little bit more grimy. She starts to feel bad for touching Fauna’s bags with the dirt on her body.
“Kronii. Answer.”
“A few cents.” Kronii looks up with desperate eyes. “ Please don’t lower it. ” She whispers. “ I don’t mean to be rude… ”
Fauna sputters. “Wh- Why would I-? That’s barely enough!”
“It’s more than enough.” The worker corrects. “Please, I’m sorry, I won’t ask for more.”
“No, just-” Fauna sighs as she sets her suitcase on the bed before taking out a pouch. “Here. It’s not a lot but-”
Kronii stares at the pouch like it was a foreign object, because to her, it was.
“Take it.”
“Wh…” Kronii tilts her head, setting down one of Fauna’s bags on the bed to open her palm towards the woman. “What is it?”
The contents of the bag make a clink sound as they land in Kronii’s palm, and immediately her eyes widen with realization. She tries to offer it back, but Fauna retracts her hand stubbornly.
“No, wait, please.” Kronii panics, like she’s in trouble. “Take it back, I- I can’t!”
“You can.” Fauna smiles, packing her suitcase up again. “I want you to.”
“No,” Kronii sweats. “I’ll get in trouble, please.”
The fortunate girl’s eyebrows raise, opening her palm back up as Kronii gently sets it down, giving it back to her.
“Why would you get in trouble? I’m giving it to you.”
“I can’t take anything from you. It has to go to my supervisor so it can be spread out through all the workers.”
Fauna hums as she pockets the coin pouch back into her coat pocket. “So it will eventually make its way back to you?” She asks, with a bit of hope that is quickly diminished as Kronii looks down.
“Likely not…”
Fauna’s heart aches for the worker. She’s glad her luggage doesn’t seem as heavy as the other passengers. Though, she flinches when she hears a thud in the distance, followed by yelling. She stops to look over, and looks to see a suitcase fallen open on the doc, and a worker taking the insulting words of an aristocrat.
“Look away.” Kronii whispers to her from behind, and Fauna is glad she listens as she hears a resounding hit from the source of the commotion. She flinches, and can’t help but to huddle closer to Kronii, who stays for a second before moving away.
“Thank you.” Fauna whispers nevertheless, still feeling the coin pouch in her coat pocket, wishing she could do something with it, but she already figured out that Kronii is probably too truthful for her own good.
After all, what employee would tell the truth about their working conditions, rather than buttering up? Well, hearing the truth was refreshing. Most of the world was full of liars, but Kronii…
Kronii wasn’t like most of the world.
“Where do you want me to put these?” Kronii asks. “Do you have a carriage, or would you like me to call one for you?”
Fauna smiles as she points over to as she points to a carriage with intricate vine details, pulled by a single white horse with its driver. “Over there.” She waves, and the driver waves back, indicating that they knew each other. “Wait for me, I’m going to talk to your supervisor for a moment.”
Kronii looks over to Fauna with a panicked flick.
“It’s not anything bad.” Fauna cuts before Kronii can worry any further. “I’m just curious about something.”
…
Kronii nods, still a bit nervous, but heads over to the carriage. She flinches when the driver suddenly talks to her.
“Is it heavy? Do you want any help?” She asks, getting off the horse.
“No, thank you.” Kronii responds instinctively.
“Hm, alright.” The driver shrugs, opening up a door on the carriage for Kronii to set the bags into. “Set it on this side.”
Kronii nods and follows the instructions, being careful not to touch the actual carriage too much as if it was hot coal. It’s not like it would hurt her, but still, just like Fauna’s belongings, she felt bad if she rubbed any of her dirt on it.
As she sets the final suitcase inside, she looks off to the side, trying to find where Fauna had gone. However, her eyes widen as they land on blonde hair and light blue eyes peeking out from behind a few wooden boxes.
Kronii immediately starts trying to mouth towards the little girl, knowing that Amelia shouldn't be here, mainly because she could get hurt, but also because this specific supervisor wasn't entirely fond of little troublemakers. Instead of figuring out what Kronii's gestures are, though, Amelia simply waves back, and Kronii sighs before flinching at Sana suddenly moving next to her.
"Everything alright, Miss?"
Kronii has to process the words for a second, not used to being called such a… respective title. She shakes her head for a moment before answering. "Yup! Everything's great, Ma'am." A bead of sweat rolls down her nape as she sees the blonde blur start moving again. Kronii nervously fidgets as she watches Amelia step onto the dock, still trying to hide behind boxes and barrels.
"Are you sure about that?" Fauna returns, making Kronii jump even more, the nerves starting to ripple through her skin.
"Yeah! Yup!" Kronii waves it off. "Um, if that's all you needed me for-" Her eyes watch as Amelia starts approaching the edge of the dock, looking over where the waters would already become deep. "Then I should really get going."
Amelia takes another step closer. Kronii can't tear her eyes off of her.
"Oh, well actually," Fauna starts. "I was talking to your-"
"AME!" Kronii breaks off into a sprint to the edge of the dock as Amelia starts to lean over the chains to look out into the ocean. Everyone's eyes stare at the sprinting woman, previously alerted by the shout.
Amelia's feet start to lift off the ground as she tilts towards the ocean, but before she can fall in, an arm secures around her waist and pulls her back. Kronii immediately falls backward onto her bottom, landing harshly but not at all caring now that the two were safe once again.
"Kronii!" A stern voice yells, causing both of the girls to flinch.
Kronii immediately scrambles to her feet, ushering Amelia behind her to protect her as she stands straight, ready to receive.
…
Fauna lets out a sharp gasp at the sound of the smack, but it's even worse to actually see it happen. Kronii's head snaps to the side at impact, not at all resisting the hit.
She can’t make out what they’re saying in the distance, but she can hear the booming voice that Kronii is receiving right to her face.
“Damn.” The carriage driver whispers out of genuine horror. “Is that… normal around here?”
Fauna gulps. “I… I think so.” She turns to the driver who stands up straight, already listening. “Sana, ready the horse. I’ll be right back, though. Do you think extra weight would be okay?”
The driver’s eyes twinkle with knowing. “I’m sure Neighbula could handle one or two more passengers.” She squints in the distance. “Er, one and a half?”
…
“And you can forget about getting paid!” The supervisor spits in Kronii’s face before stomping away.
Kronii finally exhales, having held her breath the entire time. Tiny hands claw at her pants, prompting her to look down.
“Kronii…?” Amelia says in a quiet shaky voice.
The older woman looks down at her, a soft smile of relief to know Amelia was okay. “It’s fine.” She whispers. Amelia claws at her pants a little more, and Kronii crouches down to carry her into her arms.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to-”
“Ame. It’s okay.” Kronii takes her hand and presses it against her cheek, biting back the pain to make it seem like it didn’t hurt at all. “See? Now wipe the frown off your face, we’re gonna go on a mission.”
“A mission?”
“Yeah!” Kronii grins. “Can our little detective find us another job?”
Amelia grins brightly, eyes shining as she salutes Kronii. “Yessir!”
With a little grunt, Kronii bends down to let Amelia run off again, making sure to keep an eye on her.
However, her eyes widen when Amelia suddenly makes a sharp turn towards a familiar carriage.
“Crap-” Kronii mutters before jogging off towards them.
…
Fauna chuckles at the bubbly girl’s excitement.
“You’re the lady Kronii was with!”
“I am.” Fauna gives a little courtesy. The little blonde girl tries to mirror her, but without any dress to grab, she just does a tiny squat with her arms out. “Didn’t Kronii tell you not to talk to strangers?”
“I did.” Kronii huffs as she slows her pace. Amelia notices her and runs back to her legs. “What’re you up to, Ame?”
“I was gonna say sorry to her.” Amelia pouts. “Y’know… then maybe she could give you your pay?”
“I already told you that’s not how that works, Ame.” Kronii sighs, ruffling blonde hair before looking back up at Fauna. “Sorry to bother you again-”
Her breath hitches as Fauna takes a step forward. “You’re not getting paid?”
Kronii gives a tired smile as she shakes her head. “Not this time, but don’t worry.” She looks back down at Amelia. “We should be going now, we have to find another job before lunchtime.”
Fauna takes another step forward, and Kronii stands up a little straighter. “Why?”
“S-so we can eat…?”
“Hm. Let me buy you a meal then.” Fauna shrugs, like it was nothing, but to Kronii, it was everything.
“What? No, no, I can’t ask that of you. I’ve already wasted your money-”
“It wasn’t a waste, Kronii.” Golden eyes twinkle with amusement. “I got to meet you. That’s worth more than a couple scents.”
“I-I’m not anything special though, and we don’t wanna take up too much of your time-”
Fauna huffs, crouching down to Amelia’s height. “I have a job for you and Kronii.”
Amelia gasps with excitement. “Really?!”
“Mhm! Only if you say yes though.”
“Okay! Sure!”
Kronii groans, slapping her forehead. “Ame, you’re supposed to ask what the job is first.”
“But she seems nice!”
Fauna chuckles, and Kronii rolls her eyes, trying to distract herself from the sound.
“Thank you. You seem nice, too.”
“Thanks! So what’s the job?”
Kronii nudges the girl with her knee. “Ame, be nicer!”
“I’m tryna hassle here, Kronii!”
“This isn’t a hassle!”
Fauna covers her laugh with a hand, the two girls amusing her beyond belief. She stands up, looking back to Sana who, with a nod, readies the horse’s reins.